Westlight is a rooftop bar with sweeping views of Manhattan from atop the 22nd floor of The William Vale hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is probably one of the best views in New York City.

Westlight possesses a huge terrace with comfortable sofas, nice chairs, and big tables where you can dine on small bites inspired by street food and cooked by Chef Andrew Carmellini. It has also great, yellow binoculars to view Manhattan up close.

Inside the rooftop, there is a small bar decorated with a myriad of alcohol bottles and tables set lounge style. The cocktail menu was pretty good; their Cheeky Cherry Cola was a hit with our kids. It also had a quite long and exhaustive list of spirits, and a good selection of local beers, but most surprising was their wine list which included some favorites of ours like Pierre Péters Blanc de Blanc, Billecart Salmon Rosé, Bruno Paillard Brut Premier or Krug Grand Cuvée.

We had to talk with the Manager of Westlight, Matthew Sylvester, to understand how Westlight had all these great bottles and found out that he went to Europe last summer to select most of the wines that were on the wine list.

Our group went to Westlight for a drink -- and also, of course, for the view. We were accompanied by our kids ranging from eight to fourteen years old. They were all delighted by the breathtaking views of Manhattan at dusk. Initially we did not intend to stay for dinner, but kids being kids, after admiring the great view at length, decided they were starving and were ready for some mighty burgers and French fries.

The bar's policy only allowed "kids" under 21 to stay until 7pm, after that it's adults only. Luckily for us, Matthew Sylvester was very understanding after we told him that we were coming from France and Italy to enjoy New York City for a week, that our kids were well behaved and used to eating at Michelin-starred restaurants. He made an exception and allowed us to stay for dinner provided we would vacate the premises at 9pm sharp. We gave him our words, he kindly reserved a table for the ten of us. He and his team played host to us and waited our party perfectly. As agreed, we left at 9pm on the dot. Thank you Matthew for a great evening!

The food was quite good for street food, from the spicy coconut cashews to the Westlight Burgers, even if it did not come cheap: prices ranged from 8 USD to 21 USD.

Nevertheless, if you have only time for one rooftop bar in New York City, we highly recommend you go to Westlight in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

On October 31st 2018, we had lunch at Gabriel Kreuther's restaurant in New York City, which was an excellent way to kick off the festivities of Halloween.

The restaurant is located at 42nd Street across from the New York Public Library and Bryant Park. The restaurant itself is beautiful, airy with salvaged-wood beams and design, comfortable furniture.

For our lunch, we opted for the three course menu at 89 USD per person. The amuse bouche was a brioche with delicious cashew nut hummus and watercress salsa verde, then arrived our entrée, we all had citrus cured local fluke with yuzu yogurt – the wasabi cucumber vinaigrette was light, tasty and savory. Our mains were baked Atlantic turbot; green watch hatchery trout on Cedar Plank, heritage pork tenderloin and charcoal grilled black Angus tenderloin. Each dish was as appealing to the eyes as it was to the palate. After tasting everyone of them, it was clear to us why Gabriel Kreuther is a master cook and saucer. His cooking is highly technical, well balanced and extremely flavorsome.

The desserts -- by Marc Aumont -- sounded traditional and heavy on paper like the Decadent Chocolate & Caramel or Harvest Pear & Caramel, but it was delicate, delicious and surprisingly light. It was the work of a master pastry chef.

The wine list was incredible and probably one of the best we ever came across in NYC with even a great selection of ciders, which we chose from by selecting Eric Bordelet’s Sydre Argelette served by the top sommelier Philippe Sauriat himself, probably one of the best and most knowledgeable sommeliers working in NYC at the moment.

The service was very nice, attentive and professional as it should be.

We had the chance to discover Gabriel Kreuther’s cooking ten years ago, in 2008, when he was at the helm of The Modern in MoMA. Now, he is a better chef who took his cooking up a notch or two which has just got him his second Michelin star. We are very happy for him as, in our opinion, it is well deserved. Congratulations to Gabriel Kreuther and his wonderful team!

The Icare lounge at Orly Sud was average with a small offering of foods and beverages: 5/10.

The boarding and the flight were timely : 8/10

The plane, a Boeing 757, looked clean and well maintained but extremely noisy: 6/10.

The 160-degree reclining seat was spacious with a good system of removable tray but with no storage space besides the overhead compartment, a fluffy pillow and a warm blanket: 5/10.

The entertainment system was displayed on a 21"x22'' tablet and equipped with a good headset, but with a limited choice of films, music and TV shows: 5/10.

The food and the drinks were surprisingly good and tasty, good bread too: 8/10.

The crew on board was professional and helpful: 7/10.

Overall rating of our outbound flight: 7/10.

Our return flight B01200 from Newark, NJ to Orly Sud on Saturday, November 3rd 2018 was not as enjoyable, unfortunately:

Checking in with La Compagnie at Newark airport Terminal B was smooth and easy: 7/10.

No priority lane to immigration and custom checking, it was crowded: 4/10.

The Art & Lounge lounge was undergoing renovation works so all the seats were packed, it was overcrowded, not very clean, smelly, worst than a third world garage with a very poor food and beverages offering: 2/10.

The boarding and the flight were one-hour late due to a couple who arrived late and who forgot their luggage at the gate: 3/10.

The plane, a Boeing 757, looked worn out and extremely noisy : 4/10

The 160-degree reclining seat was spacious (the foot rest was not as comfortable as the one on our outbound flight though) with a good system of removable tray, a fluffy pillow and a warm blanket but again no storage space: 5/10.

The entertainment system was displayed on a 21"x22'' tablet and equipped with a good headset, but with a limited choice of films, music and TV shows (the exact same ones as on our outbound flight even though the month had changed - other companies usually update their entertainment program monthly): 5/10.

The crew did not give us prior notice they were going to serve breakfast, did not wake us up gently from our short night sleep by turning on the lights, making an announcement, asking us to pull up the blinds, put our seat in the upright position, etc. They just started serving breakfast when half the plane was still in slumber or half asleep in their reclined seats. They gave us the warm towel to clean our hands but never retrieved it and, last but not least, the breakfast itself was average with a terrible coffee: 2/10.

The crew on-board looked overwhelmed, awkward, not well trained and badly managed: 1/10.